Luxembourg victory at Val Suran, where the moderate terrain of the Jura foothills prevented any of the countless attacks from succeeding.
It was therefore after a mass sprint that Mathieu Kockelmann, 21, a member of the Lotto development team, took the win, having previously shown his skills as a rouleur in the youth categories (European junior time trial champion in 2022).
Yellow jersey holder Maxime Decomble was vigilant throughout, accompanying or monitoring every move at the front of the peloton, and thus retains his lead going into the two Alpine stages, with a little over two minutes’ advantage over the favorites, including his French teammate Paul Seixas, the big favorite for the race. “This may be my last day in yellow,” admitted Maxime Decomble, who has no real track record beyond medium-altitude mountains. And while the Marseille native considers these three days in yellow to be nothing more than a bonus in his promising early career, he is not giving up without a fight, even though he is well aware that Paul Seixas remains the trump card of the French team, which is still in control of the race: “With two minutes, I’m still a card that shouldn’t be completely ruled out,” said Maxime Decomble, “but in any case, it will have been a great experience.”
The alpine section begins with a sort of “queen” stage between Saint-Gervais-Mont-Blanc and Tignes 2100 (121 km, 3,863 meters of elevation gain) via the Col des Saisies and the Cormet de Roselend before reaching the summit. The race will now take shape.